The Olympic men’s soccer tournament will lose some of its luster after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that Lionel Messi, Diego and Rafinha can be withheld from the Olympics by their respective clubs.
The ruling isn’t likely to set off a wave of withdrawals since the ruling states that it does not apply to players who have been registered already. That said, this is terrible news for the Olympic tournament, which is set to kick off in less than a day.
As I said yesterday, one can only hope that Sergio Aguero somehow gets recalled by Atletico Madrid and promptly scores a hat-trick in Champions League qualifying against Schalke, one of the three clubs involved in the on-going battle with FIFA (Rafinha plays for Schalke). At the very least, FC Barcelona will be able to rest easy now that it will have Messi when it faces either Beitar Jerusalem or Wisla Krakow in the upcoming Champions League qualifiers.
What do you think of the ruling? Surprised? Disappointed? Glad to see FIFA lose for once?
Share your thoughts below.